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Nagraj
Nagraj ("Snake-King") is an Indian comic book character from Raj Comics and is considered to be their flagship character. Created in the late 1980's by Rajkumar Gupta and his sons Manoj Gupta and Sanjay Gupta, Nagraj was originally conceived as an enemy of international terrorism. Interestingly, in the first comic itself, he was being leased as the international terrorists' weapon by Professor Nagmani. Plot Summary Nagraj was created by Professor Nagmani as a project, to create the Ultimate Killing Machine, and his original plan was to sell Nagraj, in a bidding to the highest bidder, amongst all the Villains and Terrorist Group worldwide. However, later stories told that his snake abilities come from his 'divine' origin i.e. his family deity "Dev Kaljayi" who had given a boon to his parents to have a son after many years of trying to conceive. But due to his uncle Nagapasha's evil plans, Nagraj's to-be-mother Queen Lalita was poisoned by Dev Kaljayi's venom. After lots of prayers by his to-be-father King Takshak Raj, the angered deity agreed to spare the life of the queen but the only way possible was to concentrate the venom into the unborn Nagaraj. So, Nagaraj appeared to be born dead, and was floated in the river by his parents. How he came to life is still unknown. But speculations point out that being a boon of his, Dev Kaljayi decided to spare both his and his mother's lives. During his hibernation Nagaraj is known to have spent some time on the "Nagdweep" (island of ichchadhari or shape-shifting snakes). Later on, Nagaraj ends up in evil Professor Nagamani's captivity where Professor Nagmani merely used him for his other experimental projects and leasing him for international terrorism. Nagmani always claimed that Nagraj's powers were evolved by feeding him bits of snake poison till his blood becomes poison itself. He also claimed that he is more poisonous than 1000 snakes. That fact is that he was much more poisonous than that. This echoes the Indian legends of Poison-Men or Women, specifically raised to kill by their kiss. Based largely on the Hindu myth of the shape shifting snake, Nagraj derives most of his powers from microscopic snakes that live in his bloodstream (in lieu of white blood cells) and has a number of powers like superhuman strength, poisonous breath and bite, instant healing powers and of course, snakes who come out of his wrists separately or make interesting shapes like ropes, parachutes and many other depending on his imagination. Earlier he was said to contain poison of thousands of snakes. Later stories subsequently made him more powerful making his venom far more stronger than Potassium Cyanide resulting in melting of any living being's body if he happens to bite them or vice-versa. For his first mission, he was sold for a sum of $1 million, and the object was to recover an ancient statue. Nagraj succeeds but then is foiled by the Sage "Baba Gorakhnath", who frees him from the Mind Control of "Professor Nagamani". Nagraj takes a vow to kill all terrorists in this world and moves on. It is notable, and perhaps ironic, that Nagraj has now been transformed into a mythical-magical creature facing fantastical creatures as his enemies, with elements of sorcery/magic and even time and space travel. Many cite this as a reason for the downfall in popularity of Nagraj Comics. Vital statistics Age : Ageless Height : 6 ft 2 in Weight : 89 kg Eyes : Blue Hairs : Black Powers & abilities Nagraj, a character in the Raj Comics series, has a huge arsenal of powers of which most can be credited to his divine birth in the comics storyline. Ever since Writer & Artist Anupam Sinha took over the character of Nagraj, his powers and abilities have evolved a great deal making him powerful enough to counter any character of the comic universe. Snakes Nagraj's blood is a mixture of red blood cells, venom and minute snakes. He can "release" snakes out of his body at his will through his hands and use them for whatsoever purpose he likes, controlling them through telepathy. Though Nagraj gives full liberty to his snakes, his will can keep them inside his body, leading him at times to take enemy snakes inside him. Snakes in his body can be classified into many groups: Normal snakes Though these are snakes, of many different species, which commonly exist in the real world, being born in Nagraj's body means that they share in Nagraj's extremely powerful venom. Nagraj uses them variably as ropes, ladders, parachutes, shields, boats, spies and messengers. Most notable among them is Naganand, at a time considered right-hand man of Nagraj, he left Nagraj's body to look after the people of Nagdweep at Nagraj's order after he upgraded to become an ichchhadhaari nag. Obtained special snakes During his life, Nagraj has accumulated snakes which weren’t born in Nagraj's body, but it was Nagraj who gave them a place in his body. These snakes are usually snakes carrying some special abilities. They include Jagmag sarp(glowing snakes which in Nagayana series were shown shooting lasers), Naav-sarp(giant snakes, Nagraj uses them for making snake-boats), Nagfani sarp(literally "cactus-snakes") and Ichchhadhaari-naags (shape-shifting snakes). Nagfani-sarp Gifted by Deva Kaljayi to Nagraj, these snakes have spikes on their body and they can easily rip apart most opponents. The extent of their power is still a mystery; powers tend to be revealed when neccessary for the plotline. For instance, Nagraj once used a snake to tie up an enemy, revealing that they may extend themselves at length. Nagfani snakes may have additional powers: * Dhwansak sarp : short-living magical snakes which explode at will causing major damage to their surroundings. Though Nagfani-sarp warned Nagraj about using them too frequently, Nagraj never ever had any problems with their numbers while using them. * Tishk sarp : This snake wraps himself around Nagraj's forehead giving him paranatural powers and the ability to break physical laws. Using these snakes Nagraj can see and fight against souls and invisible powers. While using this power Nagraj's body gets divided into minute particles making him almost ethereal and immune to physical damage, also temporarily disabling his power to eject snakes out of his body. This form of Nagraj is called Maanas Nagraj. Ichchhadhaari nags They may or may not be of the same species but all snakes possessing the power of shape-shifting come under this category. They include a big bunch of ichchhadhaari naags banished from Nagdweep. It is quite notable that some of them possess such great powers which rival Nagraj's own, but they all hold great respect for Nagraj. While some of them live in his body just cause they have no better place to live, others live willingly to learn something from Nagraj's way of life. Most notable names among them are : * Saudaangi : Saudaangi is the most famous and most notable Ichchhadhari nag inside Nagraj's body. Also she was the very first special snake induced by Nagraj in his body. She is the member of an Egyptian clan of snakes which fights against the evil mummy of pharoh Tutankhemun. Like Nagfani snakes she too has spikes on her body when she is in her snake form,she also has a limited knowledge of Tantra. Among the trio of Sheetnag kumar, Naagu and her, her powers are least explained. In early issues of Nagraj, she often became the decisive force of the fights betwwen Nagraj and his powerful enemies, particularly Nagdant. Though she does not appear as frequently as earlier, she still has a devoted fan following with some urging that she should be the main love interest of Nagraj. * Sheetnag kumar : Sheetnag-kumar is now the most frequently appearing ichchhadhari sarp of Nagraj's body. Earlier a rival Sheetnag-kumar has now became one of Nagraj's most trusted snakes. He belongs to a clan of ichchhadhari nags living on the Himayalas. Sheetnag-kumar is known for his "icy powers", he can create and manipulate ice at his will giving it different forms like spears and arrows. Sheetnag-kumar also regulates Nagraj's body temperature making him immune to normal fire when he is inside his body and also giving him protection against severe cold ; one of Nagraj's greatest weakness which makes him drowzy pushing him towards hibernation . Sheetnag-kumar's Fang can absorb many attacks and revert them back towards the enemy. He can also freeze all the liquids inside one's body paralysing him. * Naagu : Naagu is the most cheerful and comical among Nagraj's snakes. His acts are such that at times it becomes difficult to judge whether he is a jester or a helper. He belongs to a family of Ichchhadhaari naags living near Mahanagar. His main source of power is his mani which grants him almost every imaginable power. For entering Nagraj's body he has to remove his mani from his possession so he hides it in micro form at some place in Nagraj's dress. He though looks idiot and talks non-sense, but he is the one who can never be underestimated. Unlike other snakes in Nagraj's body, Naagu decided to live in Nagraj's body for no reason other than watching movies, which becomes easier living in city. He is a true movie lover and remembers all dialogues of his favourite movies be it Bollywood or Hollywood. Sukhsham-sarp This is not a type but a state of the snakes living in Nagraj's body. Nagraj's snakes live in his body in form of Sukhshamsarps, or "micro-snakes". In this state the snakes of Nagraj's body can do anything which they could while in their maximized state, and just their size is affected. They carry out many important activities inside and even outside Nagraj's body. While in Nagraj's body they performs functions like healing his body, fighting against diseases and providing him superhuman strength. They have also been used to cure others of their diseases. * Nagraj once used one of his powerful snakes Nagshri in Nagdant's body to kill all the micro-snakes inside him making him powerless temporarily. * He also used them to temporary disable Karanvashi's hypnotic powers. * Nagraj sent one of his sukhsham-sarp to live inside shakti's body to contact her in case of an emergency. * Nagraj used one of his dhwansak-sarp in sukhsham roop (micro form) to destroy the brain of a terrorist recently in WTSSeries. Nagraj's Venom Nagraj's venom is the most powerful venom of the world, so much so that direct contact with it results in instant death and melting of body. He gained his venom through the blessings of snake deity Deva Kaaljayi , who himself was blessed by Lord Shiva. It is explained that Lord Shiva who holds the strongest venom of the universe synthesised during Samudra-Manthan, gave a minor portion of it to Deva Kaljayi who holds a dilute form of it and Nagraj holds an even more dilute form of it. The different ways in which Nagraj uses his venom also results in various powers he is said to possess. Like : Vish-funkar Nagraj uses his breath to force out his venom in vapour form, depending upon its concentration the vish-funkar can cause a variety of damages to his enemies. Its effects include temporary blindness, drowzyness, black outs, deaths and for once it even caused fire. This power of Nagraj once as a side-effect temporarily cured Richa (love interest of Super Commando Dhruva) of her disease pertaining respiratory system. This is among one of the oldest displayed powers of Nagraj. Vish-dansh This is simply a snake-bite. Since Nagraj has divine venom more often than not this power when executed properly results in an opponent's instant death, though exceptional beings able to withstand the poison include the Deva Kaljayi, himself and enemies who didn’t had a biological body. It was suggested in one issue that the venom inside Nagraj's poison gland is far more vicious than the venom in his blood, perhaps so much so that Nagraj might die if he bites himself. Vish-fuhaar Nagraj can spill out high amount of liquid venom from his mouth. Since liquid form is much more concentrated in comparison to vapour form therefore it causes more damage in comparison to vish-funkar, it is said that use of this power has negative effects on Nagraj weakening him temporarily cause it results in sudden drop of venom inside his body decreasing the number of sukhsham-sarps too. Vish-varsha This is one of the lesser known applications of Nagraj's venom. Nagraj once under the influnce of evil powers spilled his venom as vish-fuhaar over the ocean and heated it using his dhwansak-sarp forming venomous clouds, the clouds rained a very dilute form of his venom which was still extremely powerful. Whosoever came in contact with it died instantly and their bodies melted. After the clouds cleared there were many human skeletons lying at various places as a proof of the viciousness of Nagraj's venom. Ichchhadhaari Shakti and its origin According to the comic storyline inspired from a popular puranic storyline which has many alternate versions, Vishwamitra a king who turned into a Rishi and wished to become a Brahmarshi (which he later became) once promised his disciple Trishanku to send him to heaven alive with his body. This alarmed the Gods who to protect the rules of the universe decided not to let this happen. When Rishi Vishwamitra applied his power to send him towards heaven, the Gods applied counter-force to oppose him. This resulted in a stalemate. Despite all his efforts Vishwamitra failed to fulfil his promise. This enraged Vishwamitra, he saw this act of the Gods as his insult, so he used his power to call upon the power which was used for the creation of the Universe. He started creating a new heaven for sending Trishanku there to keep his words. Seeing the powers of the rishi and alarmed by his act the gods themselves descended upon earth and convinced him to drop his decision. Vishwamitra after realizing that Trishanku had evil intentions left him hanging. (It is believed that he is still hanging somewhere between heaven and earth alive cause Vishwamitra gave him half of his powers). Vishwamitra called upon the power himself, but he couldn’t send it back so he entrusted this power to his disciple, a snake Mahatma Kaaldoot. Minor portions of the power passed on to his future generations and resulted in a new species of snakes the Ichchhadhari naags (shape-shifting snakes). Most of the snakes don’t know all the uses of this power and used it only for shape-shifting purposes but this power can do anything, even creating living beings. It is least used but most effective power of Nagraj, celestial as its origin is this power's true extent was unknown to everyone for quite a long time. Since Nagraj had lost a very major part of this power courtsey See Through, he doesn’t try stupid stunts and makes minimum use of this power cause if he tries shapeshifting into something beyond his power limit then he might not be able to reform a new body and left bodiless like See Through or maybe even die. Applications of this power: Shape-shifting Nagraj even when limited on power has been seen successfully switching between his real and snake form. He can use this power to divide his body into particles and rejoin them within 3 seconds making him invisible and intangible temporarily. At times in case of emergencies Nagraj has temporarily taken powers from the ichchhadhaari naags of Nagdweep granting him access to use the full extent of this power. Nagraj also has a number of ichchhadhaari naags in his body, and though he hasn't yet, he can take their powers too, in times of emergency. Nagraj when high on this power can undergo amazing transformations and can change into anything imaginable. In theory, this power has no limits. Hypnotism Nagraj has a unique hypnotic effect, formerly considered a separate power, this power was later explained as an application of his ichchhadhaari shakti. Utilizing this power Nagraj can cast a hypnotic reality upon his surroundings using his eyes. Breaking this hypnotic fate is extremely difficult and going against it is impossible. Nagraj and his snakes can cast normal hypnotism too. Body-fusions Nagraj at times has used this power to fuse with his allies to bring down a powerful enemy. He can perform two types of fusions : * Multi-membered imperfect fusion : In this type of fusion many people can join together to form a single body having many heads and hands. Every individual retains his or her own identity and set of powers. Nagraj used it for the first time fusing with the legendary five in order to fight against a creature created by Nagina . * Two-membered perfect fusion : In this type of fusion Nagraj can join together with a single person to form a whole new identity. The new identity has new set of powers born from the combination of the participants' sets of powers. Nagraj displayed this power for the first time fusing with Lava to become Agni-Nagraj (Fire-Nagraj). The new born identity could release 'burning snakes' and could breath 'venomous fire'. Psychic powers Telepathy In addition to his ability to communicate with snakes, Nagraj contacted Super Commando Dhruva telepathically when he was trapped in a parallel dimension containing evil souls. Psychic force In the debutant issue of Nagraj, after his introduction Professor Nagmani said : This later proved to be true, when Nagraj achieved the feat using his ichchhadhaari shakti. Though the latter claim has not been substantiated, Nagraj's psychic potential has been demonstrated during his battle with the Mahamanav (an advanced creature having enough psychic capabilities to wipe out entire planets) in a psychic power battle. Alter Ego His alter ego is Raj, who is the Public relations officer of Bharti Communications, a fictional company in the storyline. In his secret identity of Raj, he pretends to be terrified of snakes. He wears spectacles, a typical business suit and is very timid and simple. This is very similar to the character of Superman/Clark Kent alter ego, even his outfit, straightening of hair and use of glasses to conceal himself. Originally, he didn't have any alter ego. He travelled around the world to destroy international terrorist. While this was the original idea, the introduction of alter ego destroyed the originality. Allies *Super Commando Dhruva *Visarpi *Bharti / Faceless *Vedacharya *Nisha *Nagu *Sheetnag Kumar *Saudangi *Nagarjun *Singhnag *Nagpreti *Nagdev *Sarpraj *chaandeka *Doga etc. Enemies *Crime King *Miss Killer *Thodanga *Nageena *Nagpasha *Gurudev *Jadugar Shakoora *Nagdant *Professor Nagmani *Vishala *Sapera *Vishandhar *Vishkanya *See Through Known relatives and close friends *King Takshak Raj (father, deceased) *Queen Lalita (mother, deceased) *Nagpasha (Uncle) *Bharti (Wife - Married in the latest Nagayan series) *Visarpi (Love Interest) * Baba Gorakhnath and Kaldoot (Mentors) * Dev Kaljayi (Family Deity) * Super Commando Dhruva (Best Friend) Ajay kedia aka Gulab Chacha Nagraj is definitely one of the most popular comic series in India, by Raj Comics, and has a huge reader base not restricted just to kids . New media Nagraj was adapted into a Live action TV show in India, however only 3 episodes were made. The production for more episodes is currently on hold . The 3 episodes are available on CDs which were distributed freely as an attachment to digest sized comic editions. (Khalnayak Nagraj, Saudangi) Nagraj is also being converted into an animated TV series. Work is ongoing for producing an episodic series based on Nagraj and his arch enemy Jadugar Shakoora . Upcoming Series Raj comics is going to publish a new series in Nagraj comics named Nagayan.It will be a four part super series of Nagraj comics.Raj comics has also decided to publish it world wide.Its going to be a story of Nagraj after 25 years.Raj comics has decided to publish it in May and June, 2007. Recently on the Raj Comics Forum,It was informed that instead of four parts Nagayana will have 5 parts .They are named as follows- Varan Kaand, Dahan Kaand, Grahan Kaand, Haran Kaand, Samar Kaand. Titles Raj Comics has published a huge number of Titles on Nagraj. A list could be seen at *Titles by Raj Comics Discussion forum Raj Comics hosts a discussion forum, with a section specially devoted to Nagraj. *Forum by Raj Comics External links *Profile by Raj Comics *RajComics.com *About the origin of Character Nagraj Category:Superheroes Nagraj